How To Become a Dragon Master
by warorpeace
Summary: His path to become the Dragon Whisperer continues, as friend and foe crosses it. He will be tested as new dragons appear, and echoes of the past come back to haunt those close to him. He will be faced with tough choices, as he realizes his enemies will do anything to have him under their grasp. And his heart will have to decide: the friend he always had, or the one he always wanted
1. How To Become a Dragon Master

_**AN: Hello people! I bet none of you expected to see HTBADC's sequel up this year. This year uni will be even tougher, so I will already state that it is highly unlikely that I'll be able to regularly update this story. I will try, however to keep them coming at a consistent rate. I hope you all enjoy it. This chapter takes place briefly after he awakes, and before the first episode of Riders of Berk.**_

 _ **New speech format:**_

' _hohoho' =_ Thought

"hohoho" = speech

'hohoho' = Windwalker mind speech

 _'hohoho'_ = stressed word, indicating urgency or importancy.

 _ **Without further ado:**_

* * *

"Hiccup! We need your help. A Gronckle and a Nadder are almost fighting one another."

"Hiccup! Get this Terror away from my pies!"

"Hiccup! I don't like how this Nightmare is eyeing my sheep!"

"Hiccup! Yeh need to take it slow!"

"Hiccup…"

"Hiccup…!"

"HICCUP!"

His legs threatened to give out, especially the one with the prosthesis. He was soaked right to the bones in tiredness. Consciousness kept flickering in and out, and his vision blackened and returned constantly.

He was almost home…

His half leg bucked. He closed his half-shut eyes, ready for the fall. He was already imagining what his father would say… finding him lying down just outside their home.

He would scowl at him. He would feel ashamed because of him.

He would be called useless again…

The ground never came. A pair of soft arms wrapped themselves around him as he heard a grunt bring whispered out of the person's mouth.

He recognized this mixed herbal smell…

"Hiccup? Hiccup?! I got you, I got you," Heather whispered against his ear. She lifted him up slightly and hugged him tightly. He returned it, though too weakly for Heather to dismiss it.

She stroke his scalp, the part right where his hair begins to grow on the back of his head. He melted in her embrace. She was the only one that knew that stroking this part of his head turned him into a puddle.

He sighed, thankful, thankful that she caught him, thankful of the caring attention. "Let's get you inside okay Hiccup?" He heard his name so many times this day and he was so tired of hearing it. But when she spoke his name he didn't feel tired. He felt safe.

She gently put his arm around her shoulders and took off the pressure on his half leg. He half sighed, half sobbed, relieved that his leg was no longer burdened by his weight.

No matter how small it may be.

Taking baby steps Heather walked him inside his house. It was night, and most people were still dining at the Great Hall, his father included.

He had been too, but decided to head home earlier. He felt so tired…

His eyes fluttered as he tried to keep them open. He wasn't feeling aware of his surroundings. He felt himself lying down, and could hear Heather speak to him.

With no small amount of effort he opened his eyes and looked at the raven-haired girl. "Here, drink a bit," she spoke softly. And so he did, while she helped him sit up a bit. After he was done, she let him lie down.

"I'll make you some soup." He grunted in protest, the words failing to come out of his mouth in an audible way. "No buts, I saw how little you ate back there." He huffed, though he couldn't bring himself to be annoyed.

He heard some metal clanking, and them the hearth near him became warm; she had lit it. There was a moment of silence before he felt her presence, right beside him. "Don't feel pitiful or ashamed of yourself," she told him while holding his hand. "It's okay to get tired. You've been working hard lately."

She knew him well, so well. Her words, full of concern and care stopped his self-depreciation. She was right, may be has been working hard. But he couldn't have done it any other way. The dragons looked up at him, the people of Berk looked up at him. He needed to be there to help integrate these two words.

He made a move to stand up but soft hands gently pushed him down. He felt weak, and he knew his friend barely put any force to keep him lying down. "Shush now dear. Rest a bit." She left again, and he could hear something being chopped. Vegetables most likely.

He didn't try to get up again. He kept lying down, eyes shut as he concentrated on his hearing. He felt someone nudge his hand, and he knew instantly that it was Toothless. "It's okay bud…" His voice felt weird, strange even. It came out hoarse and weak. "I just need to rest a bit…"

The chopping stopped, but he could hear the water boiling on the cauldron. She came back to his side again. "It'll be ready soon," she whispered while caressing his cheek. She then turned to Toothless and scratched his chain. "Would you keep watch of the door? He needs to rest."

The dragon nudge him again then moved to a nearby corner, where he could both look at his rider and at the door.

The household had been rebuilt, and now it was much larger to accommodate the two furies. An incident with the twins and their Zippleback had left a giant hole on the left side of the house. And since Stoick was feeling that the place was too crowded he decided to demolish it and build a bigger one from scratch, rather than repair and later expand it.

It was now as big as a storehouse. If the chief's home had been big in the past it was enormous now. The layout was still the same, except that Hiccup's door was large enough for the dragons to pass through with ease, as was the stairs leading to his room.

Perhaps the biggest change was in his room. It had now two floor stones, one for Toothless and one for Windwalker. Their habit of lighting up the ground before lying down had caused an incident more than once. One time Toothless overdid it, because of the winter, and Stoick ended up in a foul mood because of a lack of sleep and a bump on his head caused by a chunk of Hiccup's wooden floor that fell on his head.

On the same day, he appeared with two big flat stones, larger than him, and set it on his son's room. There never was an incident again.

'I see he is finally home,' the deep voice he became used to spoke. Windwalker quietly walked down the stairs, his eyes fixed on his boy. 'I wonder how you managed to drag him in.'

"I didn't." Her tone always became slightly icy when talking to Windwalker. It wasn't as full of enmity as his father's tone was when talking to the white one, but he could still detect it.

He wasn't sure it was there. Maybe it was jealousy. Maybe it was his disregard to the Vikings around him.

"He collapsed on me-would have collapsed on the ground if I had not picked him up. Toothless was excessively tired to react quickly. I wondered where you were that moment."

The white one hummed, which was weird. It came out as a deep rumbling and it was oddly comforting. 'I was here. I figured I'd cause less trouble, trouble that he would have to settle, if I remained here after mid-afternoon.'

He knew Windwalker had given a good reply because Heather said nothing. He couldn't understand their conversation more or less. The words were muffled, and he didn't think it was their fault.

Again he felt her come to him. "It's ready, I need you to sit up." She put the bowl on the bedtable to help him. She sat behind him and let him lean on her. Despite only being half-awake, he blushed. He had once been used to this, but lately he has been very self-conscious.

It didn't help that the two girls he was close to didn't see him as a mere friend.

Still, he wasn't going to let his self-consciousness get in the way.

"We'll take it slowly, otherwise it may upset your stomach." He opened his eyes just a bit so he could see the spoon. He felt childish enough by being fed, he didn't need to get himself dirty and feel even more so.

Sip by sip he ate the soup. He hummed in pleasure. Heather may not be a good at many things, like fighting, but she could cook better than most chiefs at the Hall.

After they were done, she put the bowl aside, but didn't leave. Instead, she wrapped her arms around him and started humming. It was a lullaby she knew, and he knew it because he heard her sing that tune many times when she had children sleeping at the healer's hut after a raid.

He felt sleep crawl up toward him, luring him toward it as softly as her humming was. Windwalker kept silent, watching the interaction. He knew when to be sarcastic and knew that joking that his boy was a toddler again wouldn't be appreciated.

She felt him relax around his arm, and his even breathing announced how he was asleep. Gently, and slowly, she slid off from behind him, and lied him down.

Slowly she took of his prosthesis and he felt him tense. A grunt came out of him, but he did not wake up. She could see why; the skin around his stump was reddish, no doubt irritated from the amount of stress put in it.

She walked back to the kitchen and came back with a cloth wet with warm water. Very carefully, she put it around the stump. He let out another grunt, but sighed shortly afterwards. She could feel his leg relax. She would let the warm cloth there for a bit. It would do him good.

"I will seriously have a talk with Stoick," she muttered, her tone showing no signs of amusement. As quietly as possible she cleaned up the dishes, while talking to Windwalker. "Seriously, I have never seen someone so daft. Everyone that has lost a limb know that they need to take easy during the recovery process. But Stoick? He just let Hiccup wear himself out. Even Gobber complained how the boy was trying to do too much too soon during their sessions."

'And do you honestly think he'll hear you?' she heard him ask. It was a question she asked herself, more than once. But she wasn't one to back down without a fight.

"You can bet he will," she muttered angrily. The white one snorted and she briefly glared at him. She knew he was going to take pleasure on seeing her scold the Chief. He may be the leader of Berk, but she was a healer, fresh out of her training. Concerning one's welfare, she was technically superior to him.

"Well, we'll see how well my status as healer will serve me tomorrow morning," she muttered, though to no one. Toothless didn't hear their talk, he was fast asleep. She looked at the dragon and sighed, he looked as worn out as his rider.

After she was done cleaning up she took the cloth off his leg then put a blanket over him. She then grabbed one for her-the advantages of being a chief's son: Hiccup had no small amount of blankets-and laid down on the couch.

As Windwalker climbed the stairs to go sleep, he could only think of one thing: Stoick was so in for it the next day…

He heard muffled voices as he slowly awoke. He felt much better, and this night's sleep had been better than all the ones he had had the prior two week to it.

" how can you be so…thick-headed?!" he heard one voice angrily exclaim. "I was very specific when I told you that he needed to rest and take it slow!"

"What do you want me to do?" He recognized the booming voice as his father's. No other voice could ever make his bed tremble, even if only slightly. "You know how he is better than everyone, probably better than even me." There was a hint of sorrow in these last words, almost undetectable.

"Yes I do. And so do you, which is why you should have kept an even closer eye on him."

"You ask me the impossible! I am the Chief, and now that we have the dragons-"

"We both know very well he has been handling the dragons, not you, not me, not any of the other dragon riders," she cur him out, then was a paused. He guessed that both were shocked that Heather just dared to cut the Chief. "I'm sorry Chief, I didn't…"

"Hush child," his tone was serene, almost sympathetic. "You speak the truth.…" He sounded much older, as if the truth made his age caught up with him. "I know you mean well… still, I don't know what to do. Unless I kept him locked here I don't know how to have him slow down."

Heather sighed, sharing his uncertainty. "Maybe if the teens regularly share their knowledge about the dragons that'll lessen the complains a bit. He can join up too. You'd only have to convince the people to have lessons about their beforetime mortal enemies given by a bunch of kids."

Stoick snorted, because it sounded absurd, but knew that she was onto something. "I think I can do that. But it won't be enough. The be-the dragons still act wildly, even when the teens are handling them. That's why they call him. He's the only one that has a way with these beasts…"

These words gave him a feeling of dejavu, but as quickly as it came it was gone. "He's no god, Chief. He learned how to do that, the same way he learned how to not see them as enemies. You can do it too. We all can."

There was a moment of silence.

"We know you're awake…" Heather said, making his breath hitch. He slowly sat up, and looked at them with eye still sleepy. "Feeling well rested?" He nodded, then gave her an appreciative smile.

"So…" It was rare of the Chief to be seen acting awkwardly, but he seemed to act so every time he was addressing Hiccup. "You probably heard us, so I think an apology is in order. I apologize for not keeping up my promise that I'd make up for all these years. You friend Heather suggested an idea that may benefit us all. You agree with it?"

He looked at her, and she was puzzled to see guilt hidden behind his eyes. _'Guilt of what?_ ' she wondered.

"I think it's a good idea…"

And so they settled on using Heather's idea.


	2. The First Rift

_**AN: Hello and welcome again to How To Become a Dragon Master. Nothing much to say, except that I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!**_

 ** _Review response:_**

 ** _V01dsw0rd: Well, the whole story is an AU, but I wouldn't say that. Last chapter was more of a bridging between the events at the end of HTBADC (which are similar to the events of the end of the first HTTYD movie), and the beginning of Riders of Berk episode 1's take of this story._**

 ** _Noctus Fury: Sounds like you're a big sucker for love triangles. You're enjoying this Heather-Hiccup-Astrid game as much as you are enjoying the Astrid-Hiccup-Elsa game on HTLIG. Maybe one day you could write a story of your own, with your own take at one of these love triangles. As for Heather, well she is just as overprotective of Hiccup as Toothless and Stoick are. Things can get heated if they don't agree :P_**

 ** _thearizona: Well you know our little Hiccup, he feels like he disappointed his father, and his peers as well. And thanks, I hope you enjoy this chapter as well._**

 ** _Spartan10007: Another one on the Heathercup ship. It still takes me by surprise at seeing how many of you there are. Though, considering the work they've been doing on her on the RTTE series I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I hope you enjoy this chapter_**

 ** _Without further ado:_**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It worked, on the beginning at least. Soon, however, people started to feel bored during the classes, not being only when Hiccup would speak.

The issues dragon-related had climbed down for a while, but were currently climbing up again. Hiccup gave up on the demonstrations briefly after he noticed such thing, and returned to the exhaustive routine he had had before that day he, Heather and his father talked.

Heather, of course, was not happy at all. Even Gothi wasn't. The fact that her former apprentice was now mostly busy tendering Hiccup meant that she had to tender the rest more often. She would never blame the child, for she knew Heather's heart was in the right place.

Still… she knew it was only a matter of time before someone reaches its last straw…

Mildew. A relic of an old time, when bitterness about dragons was applauded. Some would say he was so old that he already had gray beard and hair when Stoick killed his first Terror.

The only other thing that everyone could agree about Mildew is that he was as old as he was grumpy. Even before the migration he already was a big complainer. Stoick would occasionally joke with Gobber that the old man was his personal pain on his ass, to which Gobber would heartfully agree.

But now that the war was over the old man seemed to turn into an even bigger pain. "These demons are not fit to live amongst civilized men!" he proclaimed to Stoick, being loud enough to attract the attention of the people nearby.

"They don't let an old man rest because they're busy eating my crops, our crops! They don't let our tribesmen rest because they're busy breaking down our roofs. They don't let us eat because they eat our food." If possible his yells got even louder, attracting the attention of even more Vikings.

As if to make his claim truer a Terror passed by with a loath of bread on his mouth, being followed by two other Terrors who seemed to be very hungry, if the way their tongues were dangling out of their mouths was any indication.

"And on top of all of that we have to clear their mess!" He pointed, with his staff, to the piles and piles of dragon dung spread around the central plaza. Fortunately it wasn't extremely smelly, but surely it was hard to wash out. More than just a Viking agreed with Mildew, likely because they had to clean themselves after the popularly dubbed 'poop time'.

"I think it's safe to say I speak for everyone when I say you better deal with them by caging them!" Shouts of angry Vikings could be heard, all of them agreeing with the old man. Stoick sighed, and looked worriedly at Gobber.

Hiccup was not going to take this well, especially after all the effort he put to help.

Hiccup heard the exchange. He backed away from the door slowly, until he ended up sitting on the chair. He looked at Toothless, worry leaking from his eyes like a waterfall. "I don't want you to go bud."

Toothless nudged him, sharing the same concern. He knew the boy's father was trying, but it didn't mean he liked the situation.

As soon as the sun set Stoick came home. Hiccup could see the concern hidden behind his frown. "It's okay dad… I know…"

Stoick opened his mouth, then shut it, before eventually letting out a sigh. It pained Hiccup to see his father so aged. "I don't like it anymore that you do, but I don't see any other way…"

"But dad, I understand then-"

"It doesn't matter-" he yelled, before pinching the bridge between his eyes and taking in a deep breath. "I mean… I know Hiccup, but this did not change the fact that the village can't sustain the current situation. I'm sorry son, but we'll have to cage them."

"Dad…" he didn't mind how his voice subtly broke. "Just let me try again. Just one chance, please?"

Stoick looked his boy in the eyes, ones so similar to his mother… He sighed. "Alright. One more try. But if you don't control them enough tomorrow you will cage them and keep it like that until I decide what to do."

"Thanks dad…" he wanted to seem relieved but his voice actually came out sounding nervous. "I won't let you down."

Stoick sighed one last time. "I hope you won't. For your and my sake." He retreated to his chambers, and soon his snores filled the quiet house.

"Windwalker?" he called out. The white one slowly climbed down the stairs. "I know you overheard us. Think you can help me tomorrow?"

As much as he liked to see chaos, his will to not see his boy sad surpassed all others. He may not be getting away-no one would dare to chain him, even Hiccup-but the same could not be said of Toothless. His cousin was too honor bound to create a mess to stay with Hiccup. 'I will.'

He smiled weakly. Heather did not come this night to visit him and for that he was thankful. He wasn't sure if he wanted to see her. He always liked her company, but he was too exhausted, too put down. He didn't want her to see him like that.

All the teens gathered on the old Dragon Training arena as he had requested. "So we're here. Why did you call us?" Astrid inquired. Even Heather was there, although she did not have a dragon. Beside from her and the healer the others didn't seem to be paying much attention to Hiccup. He held back a sigh, and hoped that, at least, they would hear what he had to say.

"We need to take a different approach. I'm sure all of you heard Mildew yesterday…" He earned a round of nods in return. He was thankful that the Twins and Snotlout were paying attention. "Dad says I only have one shot at changing the situation or he'll have to do as Mildew asked: cage our dragons."

"I'm not sure about you but I am not okay with that." They nodded, their faces showing fierceness. "Mildew want our dragons out of the island, but I want to show him that he's wrong. That we can coexist in harmony."

"Yeah!" They all shouted.

He nodded. "Good, so as you all are with me I think we can begin it. We're going to train dragons."

There was a moment of silence as each teen looked at one another, before all of them looked at Hiccup. "I'm not sure if you remember but our dragons are already trained." They glanced at Hookfang and Snotlout, who were arguing again. "Most of them anyway," Astrid added.

Heather held back the urge of adding in that the Twins didn't really train their dragon as well.

"I know, I know," he spoke, waving his hands up and down as if telling them to calm down. "But the rest of the dragons on Berk are not. And I know there is only six of us but I think this can help." Before Astrid could speak he then added, "And I know you already trained dragons before, but it was under different circumstances. Just… go with me okay?"

She was about to speak when she noticed how tired he seemed. It was very subtle. He must have learned how to hide it over the years. But he couldn't hide from her, now that he had her attention on him-she had a keen eye after all. The way he slightly leaned on his good leg. The way he held himself from sighing. These were some of the signs telling her of how tired he was.

"So what you want us to do?" she asked. The others, not wishing to go against Astrid and Hiccup, turned their attention to the boy. Even Snotlout was quiet.

He gave her a subtle, yet very appreciative smile. "As you know there are many issues caused by the dragons. One of them is stealing food." He took a loath of bread out of the basket and gave to Toothless. "The best and quickest way to have a dragon give up on the food is to lightly scratch them under their chins, after earning their attention."

He scratched Toothless under the chain, who rolled his eyes up in pleasure. His mouth opened up a bit, enough so the food was loosely inside it. Hiccup had no issue taking back the bread. 'He should be thankful he didn't pick me, otherwise that would have been awkward for him.'

Toothless shot his cousin an annoyed glare, though he could not deny the truth. Windwalker had the same weak spot of Toothless, but merely scratching his chin did not yield the same effect it did on the black dragon. Punching it though, yielded a very different result.

"Heh, you might do that with your dragons. Hookfang and I do things in a different way," he said while throwing the loath of bread to Hookfang. "If I want him to drop something I go to his face and say DROP THAT RIGHT NOW YOU HEAR ME!"

He did drop the bread, only to engulf the bulky boy with his mouth. Snotlout. Grunted in pain, as his dragon's teeth were a little too close for comfort. "Would someone help me?"

The Twins snickered and laughed, talking of how they should teach this to Barf and Belch. Hiccup glanced at Astrid, who shrugged. "In a minute," she said amused. Despite the exasperation coming off from him, Hiccup allowed himself to smile.

They went on like this for a while before Hiccup decided they should take a break. "Okay guys, I think we had good progress today. We can rest up a bit." The dragons took off, with the exception of Windwalker for obvious reasons.

They started talking while Hiccup looked at them from afar. 'I must say, I was skeptical of your idea but seems like you have it under control.'

He sighed. "To be honest I was skeptical too. I know they react to me in a friendly way, but I was not sure if they would behave the same way with others, especially with Snotlout." They both glanced at the bulky boy who was trying to proudly show the bite mark on his arm while Heather was trying to bandage it.

'I'm with you on this flight.' Hiccup raised an eyebrow at the expression but didn't comment on it. 'But if they are friendly even to Snotlout, who is the closest thing to the average Viking of your village then there is hope.'

Hiccup nodded. Now it was time to see if their training was in vain or not. "Okay guys," he said while approaching them. "What do you say we put in practice what we trained this far?"

They all agreed enthusiastically. Hiccup started to walk toward the door until the white one took him by the collar of his tunic and flopped the poor boy to behind his back. 'You're walking on my back, no arguments.'

Hiccup trued twice to escape it, but having four wings gave him a lot of advantages. Pinning Hiccup behind his back was one of them. Snotlout didn't miss a chance to make a snarky comment but quickly shut up when Windwalker bored his eyes on Snotlout's skull. Said teen quickly looked away, as he was still traumatized by the last time he looked deeply into such eyes.

Heather and Astrid exchanged glances. They knew why Windwalker did this; Hiccup's leg was trembling, albeit it was hardly noticeable. Still they both quietly laughed at seeing the boy being fathered by a White Fury.

"Strange. Earlier today I couldn't walk five feet without seeing a dragon and someone shouting at it. Where is everyone?" Astrid inquired, voicing out the question that was in everyone's mind.

Windwalker felt a weird sensation, then immediately jolted toward the storage house. "What the-" Heather's question was interrupted as an explosion broke the silence, its cloud of smoke visible to everyone. Curiously, it happened on the same direction in which Windwalker took off. They all glanced at one another before breaking into a run.

They arrived at the place in less than a minute, and all of them were surprised to see their dragons eating what was left of the food. Even Toothless was there. Windwalker stopped, shocked for a moment, before he let out his blood-curdling roar.

The teens covered their ears while trying not to pale too much. Some of the Vikings who had been watching the scene with indignation actually ran off because of the roar. 'ENOUGH!'

All dragons immediately stopped eating, and slowly backed away from the leftovers. Stoick came out of the half-blown, charred house. Despite the ashes stuck on his skin Hiccup could see even his father was pale.

The man looked at him and the dragon right beside him. He did not say anything about the roar. "You see Stoick, I warned you!" The old man approached the Chief, a half grin half frown plastered on his face. "I warned you when they ate my field of cabbages. And did you do? You put a bunch of teenagers in charge. And now we don't have food for the winter!"

Some Vikings shouted in agreement but they were all apprehensive of getting near the White Fury. Stoick grunted, unhappy that the man had a point. "Dad I can explain…" Hiccup started but never finished.

"There is nothing to explain. I want these dragons caged by night." His tone was firm and full of disappointment, a tone Hiccup knew very well. "I'm sorry. We tried your way and it did not work."

"Caging them won't be enough Stoick! They need to be sent off the island!" There were a few murmurs, some agreeing with him, some thinking than banishing them was a little too extreme. The old man's grin widened when he noticed Stoick seemed to consider his idea.

"Dad you can't-" he stopped midsentence as Stoick rose his hand.

"After they are caged I will think on what will happen. For now just do that."

"Everyone must be caged," the old man sneered, "including that one!" He pointed his staff to Windwalker.

The white one rose on his two hind paws and stretched his wings open. 'I'd like to see you try that old worm. Maybe your bones are good for picking off fish leftovers between my teeth.' He bared a toothy smile, which wouldn't have been so scary if it wasn't the fact that he didn't even try to hide the maniac glint on his eyes.

Mildew looked around and noticed how everyone took a step back. He looked at the chief, who seemed not amused with the display, but also seemed as if he would have no part in it. He glanced back at the white dragon, almost as tall as two of him together, and, with trembling hands, lowered his staff.

Windwalker huffed. 'That's why I thought.' He didn't lower down though.

Stoick cleared his throat to gather the people's attention. "What are you looking at?! We have food to gather. Munch and Belch prepare the fishing boats. The rest find any sort of food."

"B-but sir, we hauled these fishes for six months. We can't possibly recover everything in one week-"

"Just. Ready. The. Boats." His deep serious tone was enough to set everyone in motion. "Hiccup," he called, earning the boy's attention. "Cage your dragons." He looked at Windwalker. "Let him be, we'll talk about him later." And with that he headed to Gobber so they could hunt some boars.

At last Windwalker lowered down, although his wings were still half opened. Hiccup, meanwhile, glanced at Toothless with worry and sadness clearly visible on his eyes. "I told you boy, a dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gotta do, and we gonna do what we gotta do: cage them."

He didn't linger much. As soon as his eyes crossed Windwalker's he tightened his hold on Fergus and took off toward his house. 'Had I known this walking skeleton lived far from this village I'd have blown him out a long time ago. I'm sure your people would have been thankful of my services.

"Just leave him be…" he said dejectedly. "Come on bud, let's regroup with the others." Before they headed toward the Arena, however, he turned to Windwalker. "Go to Leafnecks and Stokehead. Have them fly the Cove. I don't want to cage anymore dragons than I already have to."

Windwalker nodded and took off. "Let's find the gang. I'm sure they'll want to spend these last hours with their dragons." The Night Fury crooned sadly. "I know boy… I know."


	3. Welcome to Dragon Training

_**AN: Hello and welcome to another chapter. I bring good news, although they are not about this fic: I finally got in a scientific project at my university. So, to celebrate it, here's another chapter of HTBADM.**_

 _ **Review response:**_

 _ **Guest: As I repeat to all other guest, I'd feel more comfortable if you use a nickname so I can properly address you. As for Heather, I disagree with you. One of the many trails she shows throughout the series is loyalty (to her parents, and, later, to Windshear) and a fierce wish to protect those that she is loyal too (which is why she went as far as working with the Outcasts). In RTTE you can see how she tries numerous times to protect the gang from Viggo. She is the exact opposite of Hiccup: while he trusts too much, she trusts too little, and that comes off as her being untrustworthy (as you have put it). And, speaking of Astrid, the only time she was genuinely saving him (on HTTYD 1) was during the Nightmare part. On the other two she was pushing him out of her way so she could get out of the situation alive. Furthermore, from the way the teens act, it doesn't seem that Stoick banished Hiccup before leaving (it seems more that he'd do that after returning from Dragon Island), so, in my vision, she doesn't face the risk of being banished as well. Considering all of this, I find believable that Hiccup could very well end up with either Heather or Astrid, had Heather been a member of Berk, like on this story. Besides, all of the main characters lied at some point of the universe to the others, and went behind their backs to do what they thought it would be for the best.**_

 _ **thearizona: Well we can't really kill the old man (yet), right? We wouldn't want Windwalker banished from Berk for killing a tribesman :P**_

 _ **Spartan1007: I plan to make him even more annoying. The bad thing of ROB and DOB is that, being a Cartoon Networks series, they had to be 'baby-ish' (I mean, really, they never even mention death!). So I plan to take out the baby part. And well, a lot of people ship Hicstrid indeed, and it helps that it is a canon ship. Heathercup may become a little more popular now that Heather appeared quite frequently in RTTE (if you think about it, before RTTE she only appeared in two episodes, out of forty)**_

 _ **Without further ado:**_

* * *

That night they all decided to dine at the Hall, even though only Toothless could be inside there. He was the dragon people were bothered the least by. "What will we do?" Astrid asked, unusually sad. Not many things could sadden the shield-maiden. "I got used to seeing Stormfly first thing in the morning!"

"Yeah, who will we ride to blow up stuff and piss off Hiccup's dad?" Tuff agreed with her sister even if the rest looked at them with a small amount of disbelief.

"Who will lick my feet during the night?" Fishlegs whimpered. "I don't think I can sleep without it anymore." Even Heather, who has seen many disgusting things, was disgusted by this. Unfortunately the Twins were not, as Ruff offered her brother to do it and he accept, though understandably both were not enthusiastic with this joke.

No one was, since after this dinner they would be caging their dragons.

"Guys, we can give up. I'm sure we can think of something." Heather squeezed his shoulder and gave him a nod when he looked at her, showing her support. Unfortunately for him the others were not rallied behind him this time.

"We tried Hiccup." It was weird to see Astrid hopeless. She was always the one hopeful that things would end up well, although less than him. "We tried your way, it didn't work. We may want the dragons around, but seems like we're a minority on this matter. Let's go guys. I want to be with Stormfly before saying goodbye."

Slowly they all rose up and left the Hall. Hiccup's small amount of hope slowly left as he watched them leave. The fire on the center of the Hall was extinguished when they opened the door, as it was windy that night. He felt it was an odd coincidence, as if the skies were mocking that everyone lost their flame of hope.

He looked at Heather, who entwined their fingers. "We'll figure out a way. We always do." He smiled appreciatively but she could see that even him was losing hope.

Suddenly the fire was lit again, and he heard a woman thanking Toothless for it. He looked at his dragon then at the fire. ' _A dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gotta do…_ ' he heard his head think.

Slowly his face lit with realization. "That's right!" he exclaimed, surprising Heather. He grabbed her by her shoulders and looked her directly in the eye. "A dragon gonna do what a dragon gotta do. We don't have to work against them, we need to work with them."

His smile was contagious and soon she was smiling too. "I think I have the solution to our problem, and the village's as well. Follow me." He quickly got up then hopped at Toothless. Stunned, she took a moment to return to reality then happily following him.

As they flew toward the Arena she held tight onto him. ' _That's my boy,_ ' she thought with a smile."

"The dragons don't want to be there," Fishlegs noted.

"Maybe because they know we're trapping them? Duh!" Despite the bravado everyone could see that Snotlout was taking it hard as every one of them. It was merely his way of hiding it.

"What Snotface said actually makes sense," Astrid said as she tried to get Stormfly inside the arena, who eventually got in, with no small amount of reluctance. "But it may be because we all fought them here few months ago. They feel uneasy."

Finally all the dragons were inside and Astrid activated the gate by pulling the lever. They all watched with sad eyes as their friends were trapped behind the thick metal bars.

"Stoick surely won't send off out dragons right?" Fishlegs asked the question everyone was afraid of hearing its answer. "I mean, come one! We kept a giant hungry dragon from turning them to ashes because of these guys," he exclaimed, pointing with open palms to the trapped reptiles.

They all looked at their friends. What Fishlegs said was not a lie. Then again, as Astrid painfully reminded herself, Hiccup almost died there and still some, though they were very few, still despised the boy just like they used to.

She opened her mouth to speak, but never uttered out any words, as everyone heard the signature screech of a Night fury. Not after a moment later Hiccup landed in front of them and pulled back the lever, opening the doors.

"We're not trapping them," he said resolutely. They all cheered, but Astrid was skeptical, despite his determination.

"Did you change your father's mind?" She received no answer. "Or are we going behind his back again, just like we did to train the wild dragons?"

"Uhh, one of those." Smart evasion, Astrid and Heather noticed. "But let's not talk about it. I have a plan."

"You never listen to me…" she muttered, though not necessarily annoyed. She liked when Hiccup was determined. It was one of the many trails she liked on him. ' _Whoa where did such thoughts come from?_ ' she thought, a faint blush painted on her cheeks. But, since the moon was covered by the clouds and the torchlight was dim no one could see.

"Look, a dragon gonna do what a dragon's gotta do. We don't have to work against them. We jus need to use what they do naturally in our favour. I'll explain what I have in mind."

And so he did. He explained how he came to this conclusion after seeing Toothless light up the Hall's hearth, and how they could use the dragons for other things. An hour has past before they fanally had a plan worked out to prove that Stoick and, especially, Mildew were wrong.

As they all headed toward their homes to sleep, Hiccup could only hope it would work.

Stoick hear reports of dragons leaving downed trees near the lumberjacks, filling the fish boats with fishes when they weren't able to get not even one with the nets and dropping dragon dungs on plantation camps, most likely to act as fertilizer.

Stoick was hearing from Mildew how he was bombed with dragon dung by two Gronckles and now it was likely that the White Fury told them to do it-if it was true Stoick would thank the dragon somehow-and how they were not caged, as they supposed to be.

But, despite Mildew's complains, most of the tribe was actually happy and pleased with what the dragons were doing. Some of them told him they spotted the Night Fury up in the air, so Stoick knew all of this was part of his son's idea.

His conversation with a villager stopped as a herd of boars raced past them, right into the storehouse Gobber kept them before turning them into food. And, as he suspected, not a moment after Hiccup landed Toothless, followed by the teens landing their dragons.

"It seems like these dragons are now caged, are them Stoick?" Mildew sneered, and while Hiccup ignored the man's remark, he did pale slightly when he noticed his father's scowl.

"Dad I-"

"It seems like they are not. I want everyone at the Arena, and your dragons caged before I arrive there." He looked around, most likely searching for a particular white dragon he really despised. "Don't make me wait." He turned around to leave, and Mildew sniggered before leaving too.

The young Haddock looked worriedly at Toothless. Heather, who was right behind him, squeezed his shoulder in comfort. "Everything will end up well. Have a little faith."

Despite her soft words he couldn't bring himself to believe in them.

All the terns gaze with apprehension at the gates, even though Stoick and Gobber had yet to arrive. Even Fearless Astrid seemed apprehensive, most likely being afraid of losing Stormfly. She would never speak it out loud, but Hiccup knew fear better than anyone. Even Berk's prized shield-maiden couldn't hide it completely.

They heard the gates rise, and Hiccup felt his inside turn. Stoick and Gobber strode in, both looking dead serious. "Oh no, what Stoick is going to do with us? I don't want to go the jail."

Before Hiccup could wonder if Berk had or had not a jail Ruff spoke up. "Jail?! I'm too pretty to go to the jail." To which her brother found amusing and asked where she had heard that.

"You all disobeyed my orders." His voice, albeit not as loud as it usually was, shut everyone up. "And there will be consequences for each and every one of you."

"I told you we were gonna get into trouble," Astrid muttered to Hiccup. "And you never listen to me." Despite her bravado, she wasn't sounding angry. More like…disappointed.

"There you go…talking about it," he muttered back, and could see through the corner of his eye the unamused glare she sent at him. "Dad," he said, raising his voice, "If anyone should be held responsible for this it should be me. I planned out everything."

Every inch of Hiccup's hope fell as the Chief slightly shook his head. "No. Every one of you had a hand in this, big or small. And there will be consequences for it accordingly."

He held out his head open. "You took this place without my permission, and I don't want to hear that it was no longer in use." Astrid shot him a glare that screamed, 'I told you so', "You released the dragons without my authorization," he added, numbering out the accusations against them. "And your dragons ended up covering Mildew in dragon dung."

Most of the Vikings screeched out an 'ew' and everyone, no matter how far they were from the old man, took two steps away from him. He grumbled, but could not let this sour his mood. "See there Fungus, things are about to get ugly," he said, grinning.

"I said there would be consequences, and that's why-" he was cut short by Gobber, who was way too enthusiastic for the occasion.

"Yeh're getting a Dragon Training Academy!" he exclaimed, arms wide open, and quite possibly the biggest grin on his face that Hiccup has ever seen. Gobber's words turned off everyone's mind.

"Gobber! You fat muttonhead! I want to tell them that!" Hearing Stoick's voice brought them back to reality, and a giant grin on everyone's face. The blacksmith apologized to him and let him proceed. "Well… you told them all of it."

"Not all of it, you could still tell them the part of how proud-"

"GOBBER!" Stoick sighed, face-palming his face. "Well…uh…" He rubbed the back of his head, and to Astrid it was an oddly familiar reaction. Realization dawned on her face as she remembered that Hiccup usually did the same when he was embarrassed or speechless. "Well, what Gobber said. You all made me proud, despite going against my wishes. I officially dub this former Dragon Training Arena a Dragon Training Academy."

He walked toward the lever and slid it down, releasing everyone's dragon. Each teen ran toward his/hers companion, happiness plastered on all of their faces. Hiccup, though, didn't have time to do it, as Toothless pounced on him before he could even take two steps, and licked all of his face.

He looked at Heather, who was smiling for the same reason that his father was: pride. "See, I told you everything would end up well. You just needed to have a little faith," she said before Toothless pounced on her, although his tongue attack was way less intense than it was seconds before on Hiccup.

"Now all you have to is train them son," Stoick said, resting his hand on Hiccup's shoulder.

Later that night Heather visited Hiccup and found him drawing on his table. "Hey there dragon boy, I see someone is happy." She leaned toward to see what he was drawing: it was a drawing of the teens shortly after they reunited with their dragon, and there was a sheet beside it with a sort of shield logo in it. "Oh, what would that be?"

Hiccup looked to where his friend was pointing. "Oh it's a little surprise for our inauguration. I think everyone will like it."

She gently squeezed his shoulder, making him look her in the eyes. "I'm sure they will." They kept looking at each other before she broke up eye contact, a faint blush on cheeks, though Hiccup couldn't really see it due to the dim, weak light of the candles. "Since you seem to be well, I see you tomorrow at the opening?"

"Sure," he said with a smile. "Goodnight Heather."

"Goodnight Hiccup."

She turned around to leave, but stopped at the call of her name. She turned her head around and questioningly rose an eyebrow. "Thank you for your support…" he said earnestly.

"You don't have to thank me. I'll always be there for you." As if struck by self-consciousness she quickly turned her head and headed out of his room.

Hiccup was slightly puzzled by her sudden reaction, then his face turned into a deadpan as he heard the white one laughing. 'Oh the youth. You two are quite something you know? It's very amusing to see you two alone after she told you she loves you.'

Hiccup turned red and started muttering, calling him 'grandpa', 'fossil', among other things. Windwalker knew, though, that Hiccup did not mean any of it, even though being called out was a big insult to him-he was barely older than Toothless for Lua's sake!

In the end all of them slept soundly that night, everyone happy that not only they had their dragons back but also that they had the Chief's approval to train more. As Hiccup fell asleep he could only hope that the teens would like his ideas, when he shows them the next day.


	4. Author's Note

**_AN: A few readers asked about this story's status, given the long hiatus it has been. Currently, I am focusing on my crossover and a rewrite of Searching For Echoes of the Past, which will be renamed to simply Echoes of the Past. That means that this story, unfortunately, is not on my priority list, hence the absence of an update. However, I have not given up on finishing it. Considering that I first began it when RTTE was still airing, and now the show is over, I also need to do some planning. I was hoping on using the whole show here, but some episodes of Seasons 5 and 6 were, in my opinion, not very well written, in terms of character or canon consistency, so I'll likely disregard them or rewrite them._**

 ** _Also, I'd like to thank said readers for their keen interest in this story, even if its writer is not reliable on keeping consistent updates_**


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